Tangled in Chains (6 page)

She dragged her sore body into the shower to ease the fatigue and wash away sticky residue from the chocolate syrup. They had given her quite a workout over the past couple days but it was worth it. Shook astounded her with his sweet wild love. How she wished he could’ve stayed longer.
Goodness, listen to me! Now I’m the one fantasizing about a ménage. No, on second thought, just one man is in my fantasies now.
Mixed emotion filled her heart.

While staring blankly across the room and drying her hair something peculiar caught her eye. She’d never noticed it before. From her position in their master bath she had a full view of their entire bedroom. Above Blaze’s bureau and atop a large piece of framed art a tiny red dot drew her attention.
Hm, did he have a security system installed? He didn’t mention it. Surely he’d have wanted me to know.
She turned off the blow dryer, set it down and walked to the point of interest.
Hm.
Staring up she wondered what the little light could be. It looked like an indicator light, like those on their smoke alarms.

“Well, only one way to find out.” After climbing onto his dresser and carefully balancing herself she reached up to investigate. The portrait came loose and crashed to the floor. In her attempt to save it she slipped and made a grab for anything to prevent a fall. On her way down she had managed to take hold of the object that had been perched above the frame.

“Ow…son-of-a-bitch that hurt!” Rolling onto her side she rubbed her scraped shins. “Oh no, I’ve broken his art piece. He’s going to be pissed.” Once the sharp pain eased to a dull ache she looked around for the object in question. “What the hell is this?” She turned it over and over in her hand. “Some kind of camera maybe? Uh-oh and I’ve gone and dented it as well. I’ll have some explaining to do.”

Upon further scrutiny she noticed a connection port much like the one on their DVD player. A chill crept through her soul, making her shiver. She cleaned up the mess and placed the broken frame on the bed, wondering how to explain this. Still curious over the mini camera, she began searching his drawers for a connection device that looked compatible. “Ah-ha, this looks like it will fit,” she said, still talking to herself.

In the living room she managed to successfully connect the tiny camera to the DVD player and pressed play. For the first few minutes the screen was blank then all of a sudden sounds and images flooded the screen of their huge plasma television. With one hand clasped over her mouth she watched in stunned silence vivid scenes of the recent two sessions of sex shared between her, Shook and Blaze.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” She leapt to her feet and paced frantically. “What has he done?” Her heart raced as did her mind. “I have to get out of here. I need to think.”

She threw on jeans and a tee shirt then raced to the hall closet for a jacket.
Shook’s jacket…does he know? Was he in on it?
Grabbing his coat instead of hers for reasons that eluded her, she headed for the door, then doubled back to take the camera too. After stuffing it into the leather jacket she raced out the door and collided with whom else but Shook. The man had uncanny timing yet again.

“Whoa, angel, where are you off to in such a hurry?” He caught her by the arm.

She looked up in panic. “Away…what are you doing here?”

He nodded toward the black leather coat in her arms. “I came back for that.”

“Here!” She shoved it at him and pushed away. “Take it and go to hell!”

“Hey.” He grabbed her before she dashed away. “What’s going on? What did I do?”

“Don’t play games with me. You know damn well what you did, you and your sick friend. I can’t believe I-I…I can’t believe I did that for him and as a wedding gift yet!” She spun around and glared. “You can tell him that I hope he enjoyed his present because he sure as hell won’t see it again.”

“What present? Why are you so upset with me? I thought we were really starting to get on well.”

“Why does it matter? You’re leaving the country in a couple days anyway. Now let go of me!”

Instead of relenting to her demand, he wrapped both arms around her. “I’ve no plans to go anywhere for at least a month and even those are subject to change.”

“Blaze said you were flying out at the end of this week and last night was the last time we’d probably have another visit together.”

“He did, eh?” Shook raised one brow. “Tell me, why would I take off when everything was going so well between us? You seemed to like me, or was I mistaken?”

“Of course I liked you, but what does that have to do with anything? You played your part. We all had fun. Now it’s over and you can fly back to wherever you came from because there won’t be a wedding.”

“I don’t understand. What about your open marriage and the three of us establishing a permanent arrangement?”

Her eyes widened and she stood frozen in shock. “Wh-what?”

“Perhaps we should talk inside.” He glanced up and down the corridor.

“I really don’t think we have anything to talk about.”

“Please.” His eyes carried deep emotion.

Hesitantly she followed him back inside and they closed the door. He laid his jacket over a chair then sat on the sofa.

“Well, start talking,” she snipped.

He beckoned her with an outstretched arm to sit with him.

“I received a call from Blaze a few days ago. He extended a rather unusual invitation to me.”

“Yes, I can imagine. He invited you over for sex games.”

Shook gave her a strange look. “No…he was concerned that your sexual indiscretions might be exposed and it would cast a negative light on him to his clients. He thought that adding another man, someone he trusts, would keep your sex fantasies under wraps.”

“My sex fantasies?” She huffed and leapt to her feet. “
He’s
the kinky one. He begged me to indulge him in a threesome before we sealed our vows. He wanted to add some excitement to our lives before we become a
boring married couple
.”

They stared at each other in speculative silence for a long while. Finally he broke the thick tension.

“Now it makes sense.” He reached for her hand.

She didn’t pull away. “What does?”

“You made several puzzling comments that made me wonder if you’d done anything like that before. I’d think a woman who had difficulty controlling her sexual appetite would have been less anxious than you were at first. I kept picking up vibes that the threesome was something new for you. Yet, you handled it with incredible ease. That’s where you lost me.”

“I have never done anything remotely close to that before and I don’t have trouble controlling my
sexual
appetite
. It was my wedding gift to him.”

A wounded look filled his eyes. “You never intended on making a commitment?”

“To who?”

“Me, who else?”

She failed to grasp the full picture. “I didn’t know it was an option. Blaze had convinced me that this entire ordeal was a one-time request and you’d be leaving afterward. He never, not once hinted about a permanent arrangement. I’m sorry but I’m usually fairly straight laced and not into kink.” Lowering her eyes, she sighed. “Sure doesn’t look that way now.”

“So he led
you
to believe our relationship would be temporary and convinced
me
that a long term possibility existed. He knew I’d not agree to this any other way.”

“How would he know that?”

“Remember the night you met Blaze? You were setting up centerpieces for that celebrity wedding in Chelsea and we both spotted you.” A reminiscent smile touched his face. “You were wearing a sweet pink dress and had your hair up with little white flowers tucked into your braid. You looked like a ray of sunlight and the way you handled the bouquets impressed me. I remember thinking how graceful you were and how much I wanted to meet you.”

“I recall that affair. They had a grand wedding and everything went smoothly.”

“I was with the band that night helping out and he was a guest of some wealthy client. By the time I had a chance to track you down for a dance Blaze had already snapped you up.”

“It has been almost two years since that night.” She shot him an incredulous look. “I can’t believe you remember.”

“Two years as if yesterday.” Slowly he drew her closer. “I’ve wanted you ever since, and he knew it.”

“You have?”

“Yeah…but I’m not the kind of man who’d interfere with others’ happiness. You appeared smitten with him back then and he has always bragged about your relationship. I was surprised when he told me you wanted more.” His gaze shifted toward the window and he spoke in a resolute tone. “I’d never impose myself on a woman who doesn’t want me. You’re engaged. Obviously I’ve been duped into helping him execute his twisted scheme and this isn’t what you want.”

“I’m sorry.” She wanted to believe him but this all sounded truly far-fetched. Yet, here he sat.

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. You must love him if you’ve accepted his proposal of marriage.”

“I used to until a few days ago. Like I said, after what he did there will be no wedding.”

“Two days of turmoil won’t stop a wedding.” He stood up and grabbed his jacket. “You’ll work it out.”

“There’s nothing to work out.” She beat him to the door. “I’m not staying here. You don’t understand what he’s done.”

“Yeah, I do. He tricked us both to slake his lust and we got hurt. You’ll forgive him and I will move on.”

“It’s just that easy for you, isn’t it? To fuck me and play his game, then walk away but not before telling me how innocent and noble you are. If what you said is the truth then why are you bowing out so easily? Do you not fight for what you want? Or is it more honorable to let another man keep me simply because he got to me first even when he doesn’t deserve me?”

He grabbed her shoulders, his eyes flashed with sudden rage. “What do you want from me? Should I throw you down and fuck you right here? Is that what you really want? I don’t work like that. I respect you and I know that he won’t let you go and you’ll forgive the bastard so why should I let my heart get any more involved than it is?”

Without a second thought she smacked him across the face. “You know nothing!”

“I know how I feel about you.” He stared at her without flinching.

“Well while you’re feeling so knowledgeable take a look in your coat pocket, then come tell me again how I’ll forgive the prick.” She shoved him away and bolted out the door.

Sapphire held back her tears during the elevator ride down to ground level and even on the subway out of town. By the time she arrived at the floral shop just outside of Manhattan wet streaks trailed over her flushed cheeks. Rage, heartbreak and shame deluged her as she crept to the back room. Marge had closed up for the day so she curled onto the sofa in her office and cried until exhaustion claimed her and tears ceased to come forth. She felt as if she’d literally cried her heart out.

She had just started to drift off when the sound of keys jingling in the front door drew her fully awake. “Marge, is that you?”

Marge’s familiar face peeked into the office. “Sapphire, child why are you here? Today is your day off, hon.”

“It’s a long story. You don’t want to know.” She grabbed some tissues from a nearby box and dabbed at her nose.

“You’ve been crying? Did something happen between you and Blaze?”

“Yes…it’s over between us.”

“Aw, you poor baby.” Marge wrapped a comforting arm around her. “I’m sure this is just a hiccup in some pre-wedding jitters. Everything will work out. You know that Charles and I have been married for almost forty years. We’ve had our share of bad times but these things always seem to work themselves out. Where there is love there is a way.”

“That’s just it. I don’t love him anymore.”

“But you did two days ago, what happened?” she asked in her sweet, calm voice.

Sapphire had always admired her class and how attractively she kept herself even as an elderly woman. She’d never seen Marge without makeup or looking the least bit frumpy like some older ladies she’d known. And she wore expensive perfume, not the cheap stuff that made her cough and sneeze when packed in between a couple of dumpy women on the public buses.

“I can’t tell you. It’s very personal.”

“Ah, okay. Well I won’t press. Ladies don’t expose their secrets, you know.” Her blue eyes twinkled and she winked as if she understood.
Perhaps she’d seen me with Shook. We weren’t exactly discreet.

“Yes, I know.”

“If you need a place to stay until things work out I have a lovely guest bedroom available. You are welcome as my guest any time.”

Sapphire looked up with a grateful smile. “Thank you so much for understanding, and I may take you up on your offer.”

“Just say the word, dear. Now I’ve got to scoot after I check on the flowers. I didn’t want anything wilting on our day off.”